families b5

• monogamy, serial monogamy


  - Monogamy practiced in the UK; legally men and women can only be married to one wife or husband at any one time

  - Serial monogamy- having multiple marriages within a lifetime but still maintaining one partner in the current relationship
• Polygamy


  - Common global phenomenon, having multiple partners at the same time
• KHAN and polyandry


  - Polyandry- when a culture or religion allows a MAN to have more than one wife

  ->> KHAN- estimates that there may be as many as 20000 polyandrous Muslim marriages in the UK
• STARKWEATHER and HAMES on polygyny


  - Polygyny- when a culture/ religion allows women to have more than one husband

  - > SW&H- identified nearly 80 cultural groups that practice it
• GMR (general marriage rate)

  -Number of men and women that get married in any given year per 1000 men and women aged 16+
• Civil ceremonies vs religious ( stats )

  1981, civil- 172514

  2012,civil- 184320

  
  

  1981, religious- 179459

  2012, religious- 77,912

  
  

  SECULARISATION
• Social class and marriage (ONS report)


  - ONS report suggests that there may be a social class divide in marriage

  -> 2012- 66% of people in social class 1 (professionals) were married

  -> Contrast 44% in social class 7 (unskilled manual workers)
• CORSE et al


  - Found that in the USA, the decline in full time factory jobs and the rise of unstable employment meant that people are less likely to get married and stay married

  -> Also less likely to have children
• BERHOUD British African Caribbean marriages


  - Characterised by modern individualism

  - Focused on their relationship not tradition

  - Marriage is a lifestyle choice

  - Low rates of marriage, high rate of lone parenthood

  -> over 50% of AC women are never married and are lone parents

  ->> contrasts 1 in 10 white women

  - Mixed partnerships are common

  ->> 50% of BM with WW and 30% of BW with WM
• BERTHOUD south Asian marriages

  - Claims that when looking at SA marriages it is most important to look at HOW people got married (love vs arranged)

  
  

  -> Traditional approach to marriage

  -> 75% of Pakistani ad bang women are married by 25

  -> 2/3 of Indian women (married by 25)

  -> 1/2 WW

  -> Majority of Pakistani and Bang women look after home and family
• MORGAN (NR) views of marriage


  - Expressed concerns about the decline in a marriage

  -> Claims it is centrally important in soc ,morality and social order because it involves unique attachments, obligations and respect

  -> Argues that marriage makes people better lovers, parents, workers and citz because marriage promotes social duties

  -> Clams that social policy is to blame for he decline in marriage
• RECTOR (NR)


  - Blames welfare state

  -> Benefit system has encouraged single PH at the expense of married PH by reducing the financial need for marriage

  -> 'Less educated mothers married to the state
• Critiques of the NR view of marriage

  - FEMINIST thinkers disagree and claim that the decline in marriage reflects pos social change

  -> Changes in attitude- 1970s saw shift towards marital attitudes, it was no longer seen as a status and became something personal

  -> Patriarchal notion of marriage replaced by an egalitarian view of marriage

  -> Changes in significance- marriage has now become an emotional commitment, people delay it until they feel they are ready

  The institute of marriage has therefore become stronger not weaker

  
  

  -> BRITISH SOCIAL ATTITUDES SURVEY- people still strive for marriage

  -> 40% of marriages are remarriages ( even if one fails people still wish to pursue another, shows importance)

  -> Changes in the cost of marriage- avg cost = £50,000

  -> Recession and austerity has become the norm in westerns society could account for 7.5% decline in marriage for social class 7 since 2001

  
  

  ->>> Ultimately, there's a concern that the NR have exaggerated the decline in marriage
• Arranged marriage (EPSTEIN)


  - Common among Muslims, orthodox Jewish people, Hindus,Sikhs

  -> Consented, mutual

  -> EPSTEIN- interviewed more than 100 Indian,Pakistani, and O Jewish couples and found:

  
  

  ->> Arranged marriages grow more stable as time goes on, love marriages are more likely to deteriorate

  ->> Those in arranged marriages fell more in love as time went on, opposite for love marriages

  ->> Arranged couples have more confidence in their partners
• Forced marriages


  - Still exist in the UK

  -> in 2005 the gov set up a forced marriage unit

  -> 2013: 1302 forced marriages

  Difficult to assess stats

  -> 2010-14 - 11000 uk honour crimes reported
• Same sex marriage


  - The marriage act 2013- legalised same sex marriage either in a civil partnership or if a religious org allows it

  
  

  ->> MORGAN (NR) - objects because she argues it shows a rejection of Christian values and general morals

  ->> Argues alternative secular ideologies which focus on sexual family diversity undermines the moral authority of religious institutions ad the nuclear fam

  ->> Argues this ideology is promoted by social policy
• Cohabitation ons stats


  - 2012- 5.9mil people cohab in the uk ( double that in 1996)
• MORGAN on cohabiting


  - Refers to cohabitation as 'marriage lite' as CC are 'less happy, unfaithful, abusive' etc
• MURPHY on cohab


  - Analysed 2007 ONS data and claimed that children whose parents are not married get worse results in school NR have higher risk of developing serious mental illness
• BEAUJOUPAN AND BHROLCHAIN (Cohab)


  - critic of NR view of cohab

  -> argues it has become a normal part pf the life course

  -> no longer seen as deviant or immoral

  -> argues that it almost a trial run for marriage
• practical reasons for cohabiting

  - people may be separated and waiting for a divorce, in the meantime they are cohabiting with a new partner they intend to marry
• BARLOW and DUNCAN


  - the importance of a lavish wedding may be one of the reasons ppl cohab

  ->> waiting till they can afford the wedding they desire
• JAMIESON et al


  - looked into meaning of marriage, cohab and commitment for people 20-29

  - couples may see cohab as the beginning of a perm partnership, testing if a rship is healthy

  -attach little value to cohab., see it as pragmatic w/ no expectations

  - most exp. cohab. to evolve into marriage
• shell marriages


  - couples stay together in name only

  -> no love/intimacy

  -> may be for children or religious reasons
• separation


  - couples live apart

  -> not yet divorced
• increase in divorce between 72 and 93 (changes in the law)

  - divorce reform act 1969 (came into practice in '72)

  -> made divorce easier, cheaper

  -> many couples in empty shell marriages could now afford to divorce
• increase in divorce between 72 and 93 (attitudes)

  - functionalists: higher divorce rates show that people now value marriage more

  -> couples want more than just companionship

  
  

  -feminist: womens expectations have changed

  -> in 2012 65% of divorces were initiated by women

  women expect more than men in a rship

  -> HART- women becoming increasingly frustrated with having to balance a career and childcare (feminisation of the econ.)
• increase in divorce between 72 and 93 (secularisation)

  -decline inn religious beliefs means that less stigma is attached to div.
• increase in divorce between 72 and 93 (extended fam.)


  - decline in close knit communities means that people feel less pressure to please others

  -> society has become dominated by the isolated nuclear family and the view that divorce can lead to individual happiness
• BECK AND BECK GERNSHEIM


  - argue that the increase in divorce is consequential to a postmodern world

  -> conflict: there is more potential more conflict in marriages now as people wish to prioritise themselves (wanting to have kids vs not)

  
  

  -> individualisation- people are under less pressure to conform to traditional goals set by collective groups (family, religion)

  
  

  -> choice: cultural and econ. developments means that people have access to a range of different lifestyles
• divorce no longer increasing stat and possible explanation

  - ONS 2018

  
  

  -> 2017-2018= 10% decrease

  Lowest since '71

  
  

  - why?

  -> age when people are marrying is increasing thus less div.

  -> cohab increasing, unstable rships not developing to marriage
• KIERNAN AND HOLMES


  lone parent rates deoends on ethn.
• HASKEY


  - single parenthood not always consequential to div.

  -> found several women who had never married nor cohabited

  -> often career women who planned to raise children alone
• are NR views of divorce overexaggerated?

  60% of marriages are successful

  2/5 of marriages are remarriages
• NR view of lone parent families

  - argue they are 'second rate' to nuclear fam

  -> THE CENTER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE REPORT backs up these claims as they state that children in one parent families are more likely to

  -experience behavioural problems

  -become sexually active younger

  -be involved with drugs
• FLOURI AND BUCHANAN


  - if fathers are still involved in kids are more successful in gaining qualifications, less likely to be involved in crime
• MOONEY et al (nr LP critic)


  argues that conflict between parents is more significant in producing /neg outcomes
• FORD AND MILLER (NR LP critic)

  - the NR view of the state providing perverse incentives with benefits is flawed

  -> poverty is experienced despite benefits

  survey found that single mothers spend less on themselves to provide for child
• femimist sociologists critiques of NR view of LPF

  - familial ideology (nuclear) unfairly discriminates SP

  leads to /neg labeling of single mothers
• NR overlooking domestic violence bc of their views on LPF


  - SPH preferable to DV

  - SPH rarely permanent

  - only criticises poor fams

  - ethnocentric